*Pastor’s Note: A.B. Simpson was a very well respected Canadian preacher, theologian and author who lived from December 15, 1843 to October 29, 1919. My prayer is that you will be blessed and inspired by his poetry as much as I am.

GOD’S GREAT GIFT

Where could you find the mother heart
Who, on some wintry night so wild,
Could give to rude and ruffian hands
Her fondly loved and only child,
And know that he was going forth
To weary years of grief and pain,
Until at last, mid taunt and shame,
He should by ruthless hands be slain?

And yet, one dark and wintry night,
So lone, so cold, so dark, so wild,
The God of heaven to sinful men
Gave up His own beloved Child.
Yes, God gave up His Holy Babe
In lowly manger bed to lie,
A lonely, suffering life to live,
A cruel, shameful death to die.

Was ever gift so great, so vast?
Was ever love so strange, so true?
O father fond, O mother heart,
What does it mean for me, for you?
My dearest child is not too dear;
My fondest treasure I resign.
How little all my gifts appear
When weighed, my precious Lord, with Thine!

From Songs of the Spirit: Poetry by A. B. Simpson. Public Domain